Inside: Archives
African Literature Book Club: Review of Black Sunlight by Dambudzo Marechera
For our last discussion of the African Literature Book Club, we read and discussing Black Sunlight, a challenging piece of work by Zimbabwean author Dambudzo Marechera. Present: Alice, Aminata, Angela, Elizabeth, Sasha. What on earth is going on? Sasha: This book was so weird. It starts off quite violently and I assumed the action was [...]
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African Literature Book Club: Review of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
For our 5th book review, we tackled Things Fall Apart (Pocket Penguin Classics)by the father of African Literature Chinua Achebe. It is a discussion we were all looking forward, as some of us had already read and adored the book. Present: Aminata, Alice, Sibusiso, Elizabeth and Tope. Things Fall Apart revisited Alice: Penguin were going [...]
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Interview with Nigerian author Chika Unigwe
Would you wander around the red light district of Antwerp in a miniskirt and boots in the name of research? I thought not. I doubt I’d be brave enough to but that’s exactly what Chika Unigwe the Nigeria-born author of On Black Sisters’ Street did. We caught up with her to quiz her on her [...]
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African Literature Book Club: Review of As the Crow Flies by Veronique Tadjo
For our 4th book club meeting, we read As the Crow Flies, by Ivorian author Veronique Tadjo. The book prompted mixed reactions from the book and got us to examine what it is that we expect from an African novel. Present: Alice, Ami, Angela, Elizabeth and Celia Thoughts on the book? Alice: Ok I have [...]
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African Literature Book Club: Review of Neighbours – The Story of a Murder by Lilia Momple
Reading: Neighbours, The Story of a Murder By Lilia Momple Penguin Classics, 130 pp, £9.99 Buy from Amazon Readers: Alice, Elizabeth Angela, Karen, Ngozi, Minna and Ami More info about Catch a Vibe’s Book Club Interesting points on Mozambique As it turns out none of us had much knowledge about Mozambique aside from Ami who [...]
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Book Review: Black Water Rising by Attica Locke
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke Serpent’s Tail; 448 pages Buy from Amazon UK Shortlisted for this year’s Orange Prize for Fiction, Black Water Rising is the debut crime thriller from American screenwriter Attica Locke. One night, while celebrating his wedding anniversary on a boat trip, lawyer Jay Porter hears gunshots and a woman scream [...]
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African Literature Book Club: Review of Weep Not, Child by Ngugi wa Thiong’O
For July the Catch A Vibe Book club reviewed Weep not Child by Ngugi wa Thiong’o. A seminal text in African Literature Thiong’o’s novel deals with Kenya’s liberation movement through the eyes of the character Njoroge as he tries to gain his education in the 1950’s with the threat of the Mau Mau war looming [...]
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Kanaval: Vodou, Politics and Revolution on the Streets of Haiti by Leah Gordon
“Haiti seems to be on a fault line of history”. These poignant and fateful words open the introduction to Leah Gordon’s display of photographic portraits and oral stories, which were written just two weeks before the 2010 earthquake took place. As Gordon points, this unfortunate event may be what finally makes people sit up and [...]
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African Literature Book Club: Review of Girls at War by Chinua Achebe
Hosted by Alice Gbelia, featuring Elizabeth, Aminata, Grace, Tope, Kazvare , Sharon and Gabrielle Achebe’s Girls At War is not a well known collection of stories as Things Fall Apart has become the focal point of Achebe’s work and a seminal text when exploring African Literature. However as Achebe states himself in the introduction to [...]
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Summer Books
Whether it is a hot day in the park or evenings chilling in the back garden or a way to pass those hours on the way to and from work, a book is always the perfect companion. Now that London has been blessed with long hot summer days, we decided to give you a taste [...]
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Black Books Review: Hair Power, Skin Revolution
Is Black beautiful? When faced with messages coming from the media and beauty industry that tell us that being black is not really beautiful unless it is packaged in the lightest shade of brown and accompanied by hair that lifts with the slightest puff of wind, it’s no surprise then that black and mixed-raced women [...]
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Discover African literature with Catch a Vibe Book Club
At Catch a Vibe we like to read and we’ve reviewed the most exciting new voices in African literature: Lola Shoneyin, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Chika Unigwe, Marguerite Abouet, Brian Chikwava, Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani and many more who have achieved critical success on the international literary scene. But they would not be where they are today [...]
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The Brixton Bard on Dirty South
Alex Wheatle is the author of The Dirty South and its prequel East of Acre Lane, which won the London Art Board Writer’s Award. Catch A Vibe met up with him in the library Borders on Oxford Street, to talk about his journey as a writer and the future of his work. CAV: How did [...]
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Black Fiction: Black Rock | The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin Serpent’s Tail; 256 pp; £10.99 Baba Segi’s three wives share an unspoken vow to protect a colossal secret. But the arrival of Bolanle, a newer, younger, perkier, fourth wife, threatens to reveal the devastating truths at the heart of this riotous household as Lola Shoneyin [...]
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From Hardback to Hollywood
Spurred on by the critical and commercial success of award-winning movie Precious adapted from the novel Push by Sapphire, we’ve compiled a list of the black books you must read before they hit the big screen. Title: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf (film due: 2011) Writer: Ntozake Shange Director: [...]
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